Rise in racial abuse of nurses is ‘a mark of shame’ in healthcare
Posted 28 October 2025 - 11:31
Advice line reports a surge in complaints by global majority nurses citing racist abuse from managers, patients and relatives – and work colleagues
There has been a surge in nurses reporting racial abuse at work, including from colleagues, according to new data.
Some of the complaints made by global majority nurses this year include abuse by fellow members of staff, with one nurse reporting a colleague who said ‘you’re not one of us’ and another reporting a manager who said ‘you shouldn’t have come to the UK’.
A 55% rise in calls reporting racism in three years
The RCN said the number of calls to its advice line regarding racial abuse is projected to exceed 1,000 in 2025, with a monthly average of around 90 calls. This represents a 55% rise in such calls the past three years. There were around 700 cases reported in 2022, nearly 800 in 2023 and more than 900 in 2024.
Examples of complaints made this year include:
- An employer taking no action after a nurse experienced repeated racial abuse by a patient, including being referred to as a ‘creature’ and having their name and accent mocked.
- A member of staff making racist remarks directed at a nurse and their colleagues, including referring to black people and saying: ‘You can only see their teeth when it is dark.’
- A nurse’s manager telling them ‘then you shouldn’t have come to the UK’ after they made a leave request that was denied.
- A member of staff telling a nurse: ‘I want to remind you that you’re not one of us.’
- A patient and their family refusing care from a nurse, telling her they did not want ‘people like her’ treating them and calling her and her colleagues ‘slaves’.
Anti-migrant protests may have emboldened people to abuse nurses
The RCN said the ‘racist disorder and anti-migrant protests’ this summer could have emboldened people to abuse global majority and migrant staff. A hotel in Epping, Essex, became the focal point of anti-migrant protests and counter-protests earlier this year, which eventually led to demonstrations outside hotels across England that housed asylum seekers.
In September, two people were arrested after an NHS nurse was allegedly racially abused in a park in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
‘These findings must refocus minds in the fight against racism’
RCN general secretary Nicola Ranger said: ‘These racist incidents are absolutely disgusting, and it is a mark of shame that they are rising like this across health and care services.
‘Every single ethnic minority nursing professional deserves to go to work without fear of being abused and employers have a legal duty to ensure workplaces are safe. These findings must refocus minds in the fight against racism.’
She added that the health and social care system only functions because of nursing staff of ‘every ethnicity, nationality and faith’.
‘We are urging the government and politicians of all parties to recognise their role in tackling racism,’ added Ms Ranger, ‘and that must include an end to the use of anti-migrant rhetoric, which only risks emboldening racist behaviour.’
News of racial abuse is ‘utterly disgraceful’
NHS Employers director of development and employment Caroline Waterfield said: ‘The examples provided in these findings from the RCN are utterly disgraceful. No one should come to work and experience racism – whether that be from patients, their relatives or, certainly, fellow colleagues.’
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